European companies are looking in the EMEA region (which covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa) for an alternative to manufacturing and sourcing in Ukraine and Asia after months of supply chain disruptions, according to a new Supply Chain Disruptions report sponsored by JLL.
According to this report, there are several companies operating in the retail and manufacturing sectors that have already decided to partially or completely redistribute their production, and the data shows that the new European beneficiaries of the “reorientation” are Central Europe and Romania, and the European borders with Turkey and Morocco are also on the radar.
This trend follows a pandemic that has caused disruption in distribution networks and serious problems in ports and airports, so companies have begun to choose “reshoring” as an attempt to solve the problem of disruption in supply chains.
JLL also expects that the shortage of land and labor will boost demand in Central Europe, from the primary market to the secondary and tertiary markets, the latter strategically located.
Data from Flexport (a global logistics platform) shows that the average container flight from Asia to Europe has almost doubled since 2019, and Buck Consultants International (BCI) research confirms the same as JLL: more than 60% of US and European companies plan to send part of their products back to their country of origin.
Given the existing transport networks and logistics gateways, it can be said that goods will circulate primarily along two distribution corridors: the traditional European dorsal (from central England to northern Italy) and the emerging “Black Sea banana” connecting Budapest. to the Black Sea.
Marlene Tavares, Head of Retail Investment and Logistics at JLL, explains: “The discussion about nearshoring (where operations move to a country close to the country of origin, as opposed to offshoring) is not new. Rising wages in places with low-cost production and increased risk from climate change, strikes and accidents such as the blockade of the Suez Canal have sparked controversy over the issue over the past decade.
However, a more favorable cost-risk ratio and the loss of many manufacturing infrastructures in Europe continued to give the Asian continent an advantage in hosting large distribution centers and manufacturing a wide range of products. This scenario is now changing due to the recent situation as well as new consumption habits. In this context, Portugal has a competitive advantage due to its very attractive geographic location and demographics, which place us prominently in the European Neighborhood Strategy,” he emphasizes.
